Question

Nightmares after 1st dose of Atripla

23 September 2013. Related: All topics, Side effects.

Please help me!

I have been on kaletra and truvada for 8years. I take the medication once a day and have never had any problem not until recently I noticed my waistline is trying to increase and my tummy. Note: I am an ardent food lover but I am also very active so cannot tell if the waistline is due to old age(26years old) or the medicine.

Also recently, once in a while I can feel my heart beat. I am naturally a brave person but since taking my medication my fear/phobia for things have increased most notably heights/speed(I do not go on park rides/I freak out in planes)…I decided it was time for a change of medication and changed to Atripla yesterday.

I had the worst nightmares of my life( I reckon movie directors should take Atriplia for movie inspirations!!) but still slept so well as I really do love my sleep!)…I decided to search about the side effects of Atriplia and noticed intense depression!!

I normally suffer from depression with kaletra but realised been around people helped me solve the depression problem hence my decision of moving to populated environments.

I am really scared of Atripla and would like to discontinue! I do not have any resistance to any medication and would like to know between Atripla and Odimune which is better?

Also please what is the best first line HIV medication in the market with little know side effect(short and long term)? I do not wish to continue on anything efavirenz.

Answer

Answer: Rebecca McDowall

hI,

Thanks for your email. I am sorry to hear how stressed you are feeling. Do you have any support to help you deal with this?

Atripla and Odimune are the same drugs- Atripla is the original brand-name version and Odimune is a generic. They contain the same medications and work in the same way.

It is very normal to have strange dreams when you first start taking Atripla. For most people this improves after the first few weeks.

Efavirenz- one of the three drugs in Atripla- can cause side effects which affect the mood. For most people these are mild and easy to manage but some people do find these difficult. About 1 in 5 people will change to a different drug within 1 year because of these side effects.

If you are worried about these side effects you should talk to your doctor about this. You do not have to continue to take Atripla if you don’t want to, but it is important that you get an alternative treatment and do not stop your ARVs altogether. You could go back to taking Kaletra if you wanted to, or there are several other drugs that you could take with Truvada. Your doctor will be able to discuss these options with you and you can also read about the main choices on this page.